KARACHI, Oct 31: Revoking the controversial entry test taken by the IBA, the Sindh Health Department has now set Nov 15 as the new re-test date for the 5,500 students seeking admission to medical institutions of Sindh.

Meritorious students decrying the decision as punishment for no fault of theirs have questioned the IBA credibility and demanded that admissions be given on the basis of Intermediate board results.

“For God’s sake. Don’t give us another test for no fault of ours,” said an anxious girl student over the phone. Numerous calls were also received from other agonized students perturbed over the fact that they were being punished and compelled to go through mental and physical anguish once again.

“The IBA people must be sympathetic towards the students as the latter are not supposed to appear repeatedly in the so-called entrance tests,” added many of the students, literally crying over the telephone.

Till late at night, affected students continued calling Dawn and a majority of them were against the second entrance test.

“The IBA bosses should be sacked immediately as they have failed to deliver the goods,” they added.

The Sindh government admitted through a handout on Wednesday that the entrance test for admission to medical colleges were not held in a transparent manner and irregularities were detected in the conduct of the test. The students would not be charged extra for the new test, the handout added.

The affected students were of the critical view that the entrance test had been imposed on candidates seeking admissions in professional colleges to undermine their capability and the merit they had attained by passing the Intermediate examination.

Vested interests in the government and other quarters, having connections with the “mafia”, campaigned against both the educational boards and students, they claimed, adding that examinations conducted by the educational boards in the country were neither transparent nor reliable and that the latest failure on part of the government’s testing authorities have exposed the entire charade.

On being contacted, the IBA director turned down this scribe’s invitation to talk about the allegations raised by students and their parents. Instead, he asked one of his aides, Prof Inayat N. Din, to speak about the medical test paper leakage.

Mr Din said that the IBA conceded its fault but at the same time was of the view that whatever had happened was not due to malpractice. “We have informed the health department that things went wrong due to technical and human error and no IBA staffer was involved in any unlawful activities,” he added and repeated that the IBA was ready to hold the entrance test again on Nov 15.

On the other hand, students were skeptical that in a situation where there are no guarantees, if examinations would be held in a fair manner and whether they should not be called for another entrance test.

“It is not easy for students even with higher numbers to appear repeatedly in tests,” they said and urged the Sindh Governor, Mohammedmian Soomro, to order any other viable mechanism for current-year MBBS, BDS admissions in order to save precious academic time and restore the confidence of students.

The results this year show that only one per cent students secured A-1 grade and about 10pc were awarded A-grade in HSC medical examinations.

It gives to understand that the board has taken very strict measures to restore the credibility of its examinations, observed a group of parents, while taking to Dawn.

Even the third and fourth-position holders of this year’s Intermediate examination expressed the view that the decision to conduct the entrance test was not good. The admissions to medical colleges should be based on open merit, they opined.

In the given situation, it would be wiser to prepare a merit list for admissions by giving weightage to the SSC and HSC results as prescribed in the admission prospectus and drop the entrance test idea, added another students’ group.

Parents of the affected students said that foul play on part of the IBA was nothing new. Every year the institute is criticized for leakages and other discrepancies in tests, but the authorities, instead of heeding the complaints, prefer to bury the matter and continued the controversial tests, added one of the parents. He maintained that the entrance tests were aimed at the memory of the candidates and not their aptitude for medical education.

Meanwhile, sources in the IBA said that competent authorities have asked IBA officials to remain tight-lipped till the time an inquiry is initiated. The officials have been condemned by different quarters for repeating the 1999 question paper and leakage of the same to outsiders, added the source.

A senior official at the health department said that complaints were also received from Larkana and Hyderabad centres, where question papers were available with the candidates well in advance. It is understood that a strong mafia, in connivance with the testing staff, is minting money in the name of entrance test, added the official, saying that he had also been informed that one of the coaching centres distributed 97pc of the questions included in the IBA question paper a night before the test.

Meanwhile, a number of students held a demonstration at the Press Club, on Wednesday, to condemn leakage of the paper. They said that students should not be punished for the incompetence of others.

They said that some of the students had already left the city after appearing in the test, while others who would be appearing in other tests during the next fifteen days and would find the IBA decision to re-test overburdening and hectic.